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United As One
United As One (Spanish: Juntos Como Uno) is the tenth studio album by Colombian singer Shakira , released on 8 June 2018, by Retrofuture Records. The album is mixed in English and Spanish, divided in four segments: Tropical, Latina, Arabic & Melodic, and it includes features with CNCO, Calle 13 and J Balvin. With the purpose of doing a 'worldwide album', Shakira mixed many genres that she have worked before, such as pop/rock, reggaeton, latin pop, dance and electro, in a long selection of 18 tracks, plus an official remix and two english versions of spanish tracks. The album debuted at #1 in every chart including the Billboard 200, and music critics commended the album's coherency, calling it 'one of her best albums ever', its fun yet mature nature and praising Shakira as one of few artists to be able to mix so many genres in just one album and still make it cohesive. Other critics felt United As One lacked creativity on the English songs that were commented as relied too heavily in mainstream pop productions and confusing lyrics. The album produced, for now, three singles, "Transcendental", "Prayer" and "Downtown", the first two topping the charts in Europe for weeks and reaching the top 3 in North America. The third single was released as Shakira got on tour. To promote the album, Shakira embarked on her Transcendental World Tour, after having to cancel her previous planned tour, the El Dorado, due to a vocal chord hemorrage she suffered in late 2017. Background After suffering a vocal chord hemorrage, Shakira was warned that if she didn't take care of her health, she'd might lose her voice. So after cancelling her until then planned tour, El Dorado, she was submitted to treatments and plenty of hours of rest: "I was too afraid to lose my voice and not be able to sing again. Singing is my passion, making music is my passon, i don't know if i'd survive if i lose my voice right now" told Shakira a few months later. When she finally started to be able to sing again, Shakira had already a few songs written and started to work on them. The album was made in over five months in studio, as she started working with longtime collaborators such as Luis Fernando Ochoa, Emilio Estefan and John Hill, as well as new producers such as Mantra, Sky Rompiendo and Nanzoo. The album includes features from CNCO, Calle 13 and J Balvin and it's mixed with english and spanish compositions. Singles The official lead single from the album, "Transcendental" was released in April 6, 2018, debuting in the top 30 of every chart and later peaking at #1 at United Kingdom's Official Charts, Germany's Official Charts, French's SNEP and Brazil Hot 100, and at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single received an official remix with CupcakKe, since the song had a sample from the song "CPR", released in the rappers' album "Mouthful", released in 2017. The music video for the song was directed by Jaume de Laiguana, a longtime collaborator of Shakira and it paid a tribute to her own career including remakes of classic scenes from her classic videos such as "Hips Don't Lie", "Whenever, Wherever" and "Ojos Así". The second official single, "Prayer", was released in June 1, 2018, debuting in the top 10 of every chart, including the top 3 from Canada, Germany, France and Brazil. The single peaked at #2 in the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Canada, Germany and Brazil for 2 non-consecutive weeks and France for three consecutive weeks. Joseph Khan directed the video for the single, working with the singer for the second time - Khan directed the video for 2014's "Can't Remember to Forget You" - in a metaphysical and pyshcological video in a battle of light and darkness. The third official single from the album, "Downtown", featuring J Balvin, the first collaboration from the album to be released as an official single. Released mostly to promote Shakira's tour, the single received a limited promotion due to Shakira's busy schedule with the tour. Two promotional singles were released before the album release, served as promotional and also pre-order singles: * "Todo Cambió", featuring CNCO, released on May 17. * "The One to Go", released on May 24. Track listing Charts Category:Retrofuture Catalog